Wagering game machines, such as slot machines, video poker machines and the like, have been a cornerstone of the gaming industry for several years. Generally, the popularity of such machines depends on the likelihood (or perceived likelihood) of winning money at the machine and the intrinsic entertainment value of the machine relative to other available gaming options. Where the available gaming options include a number of competing wagering game machines and the expectation of winning at each machine is roughly the same (or believed to be the same), players are likely to be attracted to the most entertaining and exciting machines. Shrewd operators consequently strive to employ the most entertaining and exciting machines, features, and enhancements available because such machines attract frequent play and hence increase profitability to the operator. Therefore, there is a continuing need for wagering game machine manufacturers to continuously develop new games and gaming enhancements that will attract frequent play.
Further, manufacturers of devices used to generate input for a wagering game are continuously developing new devices and revising already existing devices. Devices that are used to generate input for a wagering game are often connected to a wagering game machine and are sometimes called “peripherals.” Quite often, manufacturers of the peripherals are separate entities from manufacturers of the wagering games. Manufacturers of peripherals may utilize various proprietary formats for data that are generated by the peripherals. When a manufacturer generates a new peripheral, or revises an already existing peripheral, the new and/or revised device often has differences in configuration that can affect the data generated by the new/revised peripherals, which, without specific configurations, makes the peripheral incompatible with existing wagering games. Thus, when peripherals to a wagering game machine change, wagering game manufacturers may have to re-engineer specific aspects of wagering games to work properly with the new and/or updated peripherals. Re-engineering can require substantial monetary and computing resources, can slow product cycles for new or revised wagering game, can introduce potential new errors or security risks, or can present a variety of other challenges.